Medal of Honor Review (PC): Part 2

 There I am, deep in the mountains of Afghanistan, fighting off what seems like hundreds of rebel fighters cascading down a steep mountainside. I can hear the deep meaty burst from my rifle and the resulting flashes of crimson littering the rocky landscape. A sharp contrast to the deep blue of the sky and virgin white snow on the distant mountains. It's moments like this that make a game feel intense, being outnumbered and almost alone, when for the stories sake, I would be proud to see my fighter die defending his last trench. I could not think of a worse ending to this scene then to see a Hollywood last minute ace in the hole save you from certain death. That is where Medal of Honor looses its respect from me and unfortunately it happens a lot.

 The audio and visual work put into this title is beautiful, it serves its purpose to pull you deep into the game. The game play on the other hand is lacking the punch you would expect from a reboot with the title of Medal of Honor. During the game I find myself constantly being pushed down one path to execute a predetermined game plan and waiting for predictable scripted explosions and action scenes. The title itself just appears to be designed from ideas that were innovative in 2001 and lack the appeal one would expect from a FPS built for today.

 With all that is negative about this title though, you will still find a resulting positive characteristic to pick up the slack. The sound detail is excellent, the guns each have a very distinct and powerful punch, the voice acting never once pulled me out of the story and though the graphics are not on par with Crysis, they scale very well while looking up to date, and that gets a thumbs up from me. All in all I would be able to recommend this game with the understanding that it will be short (3.5 hours on normal for me) and you should treat it more like an interactive movie.

 Story mode aside I am still getting the hand of the multiplayer, I will let you know what I think!

Medal of Honor Review (PC): Part 1

  It's been 3 years since the last release from EA concerning their potentially greatest historical FPS, Medal of Honor. For 3 years I have been awaiting the arrival of the next chapter in the series and looking forward to some new, but old, World War throw down with the Germans. To be completely honest I was hoping that EA would learn from their mistakes and use Airborne as a step to reach a more polished game, but alas this is not true.

  Watching me during the summer is like watching a junkie without his fix. I don't know why, but publishers see fit to make people like me squirm during the summer, with no new games and only old multiplayer modes to keep me busy, it's easily the slowest period in PC game production. So when I caught wind of a new multiplayer Medal of Honor closed beta being released I did everything in my power (which includes removing my credit card from my wallet and typing in the numbers) to pre-purchase the new release in order to gain access to the beta. In doing so I was given the mighty access key so that I may partake in their closed beta, what a let down that was. The beta wasn't bad at all for a beta, it was the people playing it that annoyed me, anyway I digress, this is about the finished product, not the beta.

  Work has been pretty slow for me, so when Wednesday rolled around (10-12-2010) I rolled straight out of bed and hopped onto Steam. After a grueling 2 hours of downloading and installing I was granted access. I closed my office door, turned up my new speakers, set the DPI on my mouse and got ready to fight the new exotic Taliban instead of my old familiar German foe. The high mountains of Afghanistan are a welcome change to the farmlands and cities of classic Europe,  high snow covered peaks and drastic changes in elevation set the mood and old wooden shacks and shepherds replaced the cobbled streets of France. Admittedly, this game has a very strong cinematic feel, multiple times during certain action scenes I remember getting that hair raising feeling when being strongly outnumbered or finding yourself in a no win position, but that's where this game starts to reach its limits. Just like a Saturday morning cartoon, I always end up having the upper hand, some how.

 That's it for today, I'm currently writing as I am playing, so stay tuned for more!